NEWS HEADLINES

The directors of the Decatur Economic Development Corp. on Tuesday voted unanimously to hire Mary Poche as the EDC’s new executive director.

Mary Poche

Poche will fill the position vacated by Jody Adams, who resigned in August to go back into private business. She will officially start her duties on Jan. 6.

“I’m honored that I was chosen,” she said. “I’m pleased with the size of the community and the assests that it has. I think there’s tremendous opportunity and the fact that it’s a county seat is instrumental in what can be done from a regional standpoint to bring industry here and help strengthen current industry.”

Poche comes to the Decatur EDC from the Pflugerville Community Development Corp., where she has served as a business recruitment specialist since early 2010. In that role she was charged with working to bring new business and industry to the community as well as overseeing marketing and public relations activities.

Those activities almost perfectly sum up her job description at Decatur EDC.

Poche said her first goal will be to get to know different people in the city.

“I want to find out what they see and what the vision is and then work toward that end,” she said. “I want to work with and talk to community and business organizations, too. That’s key and critical for crafting a branding message.”

The Pflugerville CDC’s website characterizes Poche as “an entrepreneurial driving force.” She served as director of marketing for the Temple Economic Development Corp. prior to taking the job in Pflugerville and worked as a director of marketing in private industry prior to that.

She is a Certified Business Broker and was instrumental in creating the Workforce Productivity Technology Council in 2007.

Poche earned her bachelor of science degree in communications from The University of Texas at Austin, graduating summa cum laude. She and her husband, Mark, have three children, Meredith, Jonathon and Natalie, a son-in-law, Jeff, and a daughter-in-law, Kristina.

As executive director of the Decatur EDC, she will earn $85,000 a year plus a $550 per month car allowance and a $125 a month phone allowance. She will get $6,500 to relocate from Pflugerville.

The two-year contract is renewable annually. The EDC director is an employee of the city but serves under the direction and supervision of the EDC board – but she is ultimately responsible to the city manager.

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